Foreign Birth Registration

[teacaddy]

Woohoo! After 28 months and 6 days, I have finally had a confirmation of address email. Reading other posts on here I know it will be a while until my docs & certificate arrive, but I am SO excited! Thanks for everyone's support and good luck to everyone else who is patiently waiting. I may wait a while until I go through the passport process, just to let it sink in!

[Scaoife]

That's super exciting! When did you put in your application?

[Rosmuc]

Congrats Tea Caddy! Your timeframe is almost identical to mine so i am getting hopeful that my turn is soon.

Apologies to the moderator on my post. I understand the issue and was trying to share general news on the FBR which we are all starving for accurate feedback. The post referred to a blog posted June 1 that FBR processing was late Jan-early Feb of 2020. This seems to be true now in real time.

[Dalton_Trumbo]

Woohoo! After 28 months and 6 days, I have finally had a confirmation of address email. Reading other posts on here I know it will be a while until my docs & certificate arrive, but I am SO excited! Thanks for everyone's support and good luck to everyone else who is patiently waiting. I may wait a while until I go through the passport process, just to let it sink in!

Congrats! I'm 8 days behind you, so hopefully hear something in the coming few weeks! You're almost done!

[duffy1867]

Woohoo! After 28 months and 6 days, I have finally had a confirmation of address email. Reading other posts on here I know it will be a while until my docs & certificate arrive, but I am SO excited! Thanks for everyone's support and good luck to everyone else who is patiently waiting. I may wait a while until I go through the passport process, just to let it sink in!

Absolutely fantastic - Congratulations and Enjoy

Congratulations to Alk1978 too - it's nice to see things moving again

[Otto Sump]

Ok, I'm finally finished!

Online application: 19th December 2019
Documents received: 27th Jan 2020
Address check: 11th May 2022
Congrats: 10th June 2022
Certificate received: 16th June 2022

Overall: 29.9 months process, although this seems a little long, it was complicated as Irish granma was widowed and re-married, so I needed more death and marriage certificates than usual.

Good luck to you all, and thanks for everyones information, temperament and enthusiasm - this is a great forum!

[teacaddy]

That's super exciting! When did you put in your application?

Docs received Feb 10th 2020. I confirmed my address immediately & had an email today saying I am now on the FBR & that certificate would be issued & original documents returned.

[Apple10]

Ok, I'm finally finished!

Online application: 19th December 2019
Documents received: 27th Jan 2020
Address check: 11th May 2022
Congrats: 10th June 2022
Certificate received: 16th June 2022

Overall: 29.9 months process, although this seems a little long, it was complicated as Irish granma was widowed and re-married, so I needed more death and marriage certificates than usual.

Good luck to you all, and thanks for everyones information, temperament and enthusiasm - this is a great forum!

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your new citizenship!

[Alk1978]

Oh wow. It’s really actually for really real done. I have my certificate. Here are my dates below. Note that I never got a knock for the certificate. They just put the envelope in my mailbox in my flats (which frankly was preferable to getting a Royal Mail ‘we missed you’ card).

I’m really really Irish. Crazy.

Date of application: 19/01/2020
Date of docs received: 30/01/2020
“About to be approved”/Address conf: 13/05/2022
You’re approved email: 14/06/2022
Certificate received: 18/06/2022

OK, next step is the passport application. Think I’ll give myself a weekend and then get that moving.

THANK YOU to everyone on these boards. I think I’d have lost my mind over the past 6 months of this process had I not had somewhere to share my experience and hear about other’s. I think I’d have presumed it was never going to happen otherwise.

[Alk1978]

Oh wow. It’s really actually for really real done. I have my certificate. Here are my dates below. Note that I never got a knock for the certificate. They just put the envelope in my mailbox in my flats (which frankly was preferable to getting a Royal Mail ‘we missed you’ card).

I’m really really Irish. Crazy.

Date of application: 19/01/2020
Date of docs received: 30/01/2020
“About to be approved”/Address conf: 13/05/2022
You’re approved email: 14/06/2022
Certificate received: 18/06/2022

OK, next step is the passport application. Think I’ll give myself a weekend and then get that moving.

THANK YOU to everyone on these boards. I think I’d have lost my mind over the past 6 months of this process had I not had somewhere to share my experience and hear about other’s. I think I’d have presumed it was never going to happen otherwise.

[ornafives]

Decided to become an Irish citizen

22/01/2020 - Online application completed and paid
27/01/2020 - Witnessed documents posted
30/01/2020 - Confirmation email documents received by DFA

Now just a waiting game, hopefully before the end of the year!

Received my FBR Certificate today so can finally apply for my passport! Below is my timeline:

22/01/2020 - Online application completed and paid
27/01/2020 - Witnessed documents posted
30/01/2020 - Confirmation email documents received by DFA
16/05/2022 - Confirmation of address email
14/06/2022 - Date added to FBR
18/06/2022 - FBR certificate received

Good luck to all those waiting.

[duffy1867]

Interesting updates on Kildare Street published this weekend...

There are currently 38,000 Foreign Birth Registration applications on hand with the Passport Service. To date this year, almost 5,500 Foreign Birth Registration applications have been processed.

An update on the 1st June said 5,000 approvals, so 500 approvals in 18 days - hard to know if this is good or not without more data - but a good indication that they are working through them still

In 2021, a number of FBR staff were reassigned to passport duties as demand for passport applications increased. In 2022, staff continued to be reassigned to passport duties in response to the unprecedented increase in demand seen by the Passport Service in recent months.

Proof that passport staff and FBR staff are moved around and have been taken off FBR recently for passport processing

It is anticipated that some of these resources will be allocated to the provision of FBR Services as the current high level of passport demand reduces.

They are expecting demand for passports to reduce - interesting, but unexpected as we are heading into summer (if we are not here already...)

& the big one, published numbers for FBR staff...

Passport Service staff assigned to processing Foreign Birth Registration applications

Year No. of FBR staff
2019 73
2020 39
2021 66
2022 48

Interesting to see a decrease between 21 and 22 when it peaked - onto passports? Who knows - significantly down since 2019

All this said, I do genuinely think that Feb 20 will be the longest waiters on average (29 + months on average), I do think that processing time will significantly come down later this year, perhaps back to 18 months initially and then eventually back to 6-9 months. I personally think it will stay at at least 6 months for a long time, considering Brexit and the days of getting it done in 4 weeks are gone (Until the UK goes back into the EU at least )

Finally - it's great and exciting to see people very close to my dates getting approved (i.e. Alk1978)- congratulations all

[teacaddy]

Oh wow. It’s really actually for really real done. I have my certificate. Here are my dates below. Note that I never got a knock for the certificate. They just put the envelope in my mailbox in my flats (which frankly was preferable to getting a Royal Mail ‘we missed you’ card).

I’m really really Irish. Crazy.

Date of application: 19/01/2020
Date of docs received: 30/01/2020
“About to be approved”/Address conf: 13/05/2022
You’re approved email: 14/06/2022
Certificate received: 18/06/2022

OK, next step is the passport application. Think I’ll give myself a weekend and then get that moving.

THANK YOU to everyone on these boards. I think I’d have lost my mind over the past 6 months of this process had I not had somewhere to share my experience and hear about other’s. I think I’d have presumed it was never going to happen otherwise.

Congratulations! It's so encouraging to see that you got your certificate quickly too - I was prepared for it to take a(nother) month or more before it arrived; now I have hope that it will be sooner than that. Good luck with your passport application.

[joemac41]

Interesting updates on Kildare Street published this weekend...

There are currently 38,000 Foreign Birth Registration applications on hand with the Passport Service. To date this year, almost 5,500 Foreign Birth Registration applications have been processed.

An update on the 1st June said 5,000 approvals, so 500 approvals in 18 days - hard to know if this is good or not without more data - but a good indication that they are working through them still

In 2021, a number of FBR staff were reassigned to passport duties as demand for passport applications increased. In 2022, staff continued to be reassigned to passport duties in response to the unprecedented increase in demand seen by the Passport Service in recent months.

Proof that passport staff and FBR staff are moved around and have been taken off FBR recently for passport processing

It is anticipated that some of these resources will be allocated to the provision of FBR Services as the current high level of passport demand reduces.

They are expecting demand for passports to reduce - interesting, but unexpected as we are heading into summer (if we are not here already...)

& the big one, published numbers for FBR staff...

Passport Service staff assigned to processing Foreign Birth Registration applications

Year No. of FBR staff
2019 73
2020 39
2021 66
2022 48

Interesting to see a decrease between 21 and 22 when it peaked - onto passports? Who knows - significantly down since 2019

All this said, I do genuinely think that Feb 20 will be the longest waiters on average (29 + months on average), I do think that processing time will significantly come down later this year, perhaps back to 18 months initially and then eventually back to 6-9 months. I personally think it will stay at at least 6 months for a long time, considering Brexit and the days of getting it done in 4 weeks are gone (Until the UK goes back into the EU at least )

Finally - it's great and exciting to see people very close to my dates getting approved (i.e. Alk1978)- congratulations all

If they did 5500 in the middle of June this year, it means they average 1000 applications a month. That said, if there are 38000 applications on the backlog, it means those who are applying now, should wait three years and two months before getting approved, if they keep up this pace.

I am curious how many applications for each month received there are, because that way we can best figure it out. A monthly breakdown will give some transparency and will help those based on the 1000 per month know when they will be getting an email.

[joemac41]

Some further numbers if you want to figure it out. Back 15 November 2021, when they restarted processing applications, it was stated the backlog was 31,500. It's now 38,000. Which means in seven months since they started processing again, they processed 7000 applcations, (based on 1000 per month, that I mentioned in the other post,but then the backlog went up by 7500, meaning 14,500 applications were received since Nov 2022.

Unless, they hire more people, they will never get out from under this amount.

[joemac41]

And one final thing just looking through the numbers. This article back from 4 Aug 2020 said there was a backlog of 27,000 and in the first seven months of 2020 there were 10000 aplications received.

That being said, they didn't get processing Jan 2020 applications until the end of Feb this year, so at the end of June we probably are looking 4000 out of those 10000 applications processed. With six months left until the end of the year, they probably will get to the rest of those applications in 2022. So if you sent in after 4 Aug 2020 you are going to be processed next year.

Here's the article for those wondering:

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-40026992.html

[joemac41]

Please delete

[duffy1867]

I am curious how many applications for each month received there are, because that way we can best figure it out. A monthly breakdown will give some transparency and will help those based on the 1000 per month know when they will be getting an email.

Yes, I agree. It would be excellent to have this data and I guess the problem has been that the numbers over the last few years have not been consistent from month to month. i.e. It's fair to say that applications peaked between November 2019 and March 2020 due to the conclusion of Brexit.

It's fair to assume that the numbers were much lower in November 2020 for example compared to November 2019

[joemac41]

Based on the numbers I posted above, I am working on projections for the rest of the year on where they will be.

[JohnFBR]

29 months and counting! Have any Feb 2020 been successful? Not seen any news since one or two has been processed a couple of months ago.

[Dalton_Trumbo]

29 months and counting! Have any Feb 2020 been successful? Not seen any news since one or two has been processed a couple of months ago.

there's only been a handful so far that I've seen on here. I'm Feb 14 and was hoping to have my cert by summer. Now I'm hoping to have it by September ... but not confident.

[Dalton_Trumbo]

Interesting updates on Kildare Street published this weekend...

There are currently 38,000 Foreign Birth Registration applications on hand with the Passport Service. To date this year, almost 5,500 Foreign Birth Registration applications have been processed.

An update on the 1st June said 5,000 approvals, so 500 approvals in 18 days - hard to know if this is good or not without more data - but a good indication that they are working through them still

In 2021, a number of FBR staff were reassigned to passport duties as demand for passport applications increased. In 2022, staff continued to be reassigned to passport duties in response to the unprecedented increase in demand seen by the Passport Service in recent months.

Proof that passport staff and FBR staff are moved around and have been taken off FBR recently for passport processing

It is anticipated that some of these resources will be allocated to the provision of FBR Services as the current high level of passport demand reduces.

They are expecting demand for passports to reduce - interesting, but unexpected as we are heading into summer (if we are not here already...)

& the big one, published numbers for FBR staff...

Passport Service staff assigned to processing Foreign Birth Registration applications

Year No. of FBR staff
2019 73
2020 39
2021 66
2022 48

Interesting to see a decrease between 21 and 22 when it peaked - onto passports? Who knows - significantly down since 2019

All this said, I do genuinely think that Feb 20 will be the longest waiters on average (29 + months on average), I do think that processing time will significantly come down later this year, perhaps back to 18 months initially and then eventually back to 6-9 months. I personally think it will stay at at least 6 months for a long time, considering Brexit and the days of getting it done in 4 weeks are gone (Until the UK goes back into the EU at least )

Finally - it's great and exciting to see people very close to my dates getting approved (i.e. Alk1978)- congratulations all

I really find it hard to believe that instead of "deploying additional resources to hand the FBR backlog, as they promised when the service restarted in Nov. They have basically actually decreased the staff by 25% despite an almost 40 thousand application backlog at the moment.
I understand the need to deal with passports with priority, but is it that hard to simply hire resources instead of moving people around. At 28+ months waiting, I'll admit my patience and sympathy is wearing thin. oh well. nothing we can do but wait.

congrats to the Jan folks on finishing up!

[Apple10]

TBH the staff have my sympathy. From articles I have read, they are under immense pressure to train new staff and come to work when they are sick with COVID. It sounds a horrible environment to work in.

The buck has to stop with the folk in charge. I want my Irish citizenship but not at the expense of stressed, underpaid workers being forced to work in crap conditions.

[joemac41]

Interesting updates on Kildare Street published this weekend...

There are currently 38,000 Foreign Birth Registration applications on hand with the Passport Service. To date this year, almost 5,500 Foreign Birth Registration applications have been processed.

An update on the 1st June said 5,000 approvals, so 500 approvals in 18 days - hard to know if this is good or not without more data - but a good indication that they are working through them still

In 2021, a number of FBR staff were reassigned to passport duties as demand for passport applications increased. In 2022, staff continued to be reassigned to passport duties in response to the unprecedented increase in demand seen by the Passport Service in recent months.

Proof that passport staff and FBR staff are moved around and have been taken off FBR recently for passport processing

It is anticipated that some of these resources will be allocated to the provision of FBR Services as the current high level of passport demand reduces.

They are expecting demand for passports to reduce - interesting, but unexpected as we are heading into summer (if we are not here already...)

& the big one, published numbers for FBR staff...

Passport Service staff assigned to processing Foreign Birth Registration applications

Year No. of FBR staff
2019 73
2020 39
2021 66
2022 48

Interesting to see a decrease between 21 and 22 when it peaked - onto passports? Who knows - significantly down since 2019

All this said, I do genuinely think that Feb 20 will be the longest waiters on average (29 + months on average), I do think that processing time will significantly come down later this year, perhaps back to 18 months initially and then eventually back to 6-9 months. I personally think it will stay at at least 6 months for a long time, considering Brexit and the days of getting it done in 4 weeks are gone (Until the UK goes back into the EU at least )

Finally - it's great and exciting to see people very close to my dates getting approved (i.e. Alk1978)- congratulations all

I really find it hard to believe that instead of "deploying additional resources to hand the FBR backlog, as they promised when the service restarted in Nov. They have basically actually decreased the staff by 25% despite an almost 40 thousand application backlog at the moment.
I understand the need to deal with passports with priority, but is it that hard to simply hire resources instead of moving people around. At 28+ months waiting, I'll admit my patience and sympathy is wearing thin. oh well. nothing we can do but wait.

congrats to the Jan folks on finishing up!

According to my calculations and a lot is based on guesses and estimates, you are looking at the second week of July for your approval. Probably around July 9th.

Let's see if I'm right.

[Jamesvii]

9 days! I'm an expectant parent and just sent my application on Thursday (9th June). My baby is due on the 19th November.

Unfortunately I didn't read this forum beforehand and, although I left a very clear note at the front of my application, I didn't leave a note on the envelope!

Is it likely mine will just get stuck in a pile of unopened envelopes now? I think I'll send an email in a couple of weeks to explain my situation further and pray for a resolution before November.

Personally I would not delay contacting them via email/phone, FBR/Passport service to either that will respond explaining the situation. Without the note on front of envelope it will just be stuck in the pile.

They have confirmed on 15th June that my application was received, which means they must have opened the envelope and must have seen my note about being an expectant parent, as this was at the front of my application and very clearly displayed.

I've just emailed the 'urgent' address and requested confirmation that my application has been expedited.